Chemicals
The chemical industry touches every aspect of our lives – from food to clean air and water, safety and security, energy, and medical treatment. The industry faces an abundance of supply chain challenges, one of which concerns invoice discrepancies around the delivery of gasses and liquids by trucks. In such cases, a mismatch may occur between the actual weight of chemical materials as measured by the buyer at the point of delivery, and the weight for which the supplier invoiced based on their measurement. Buyers find it difficult to reconcile and document the difference, and therefore to perform a three-way-match of the invoice data.
Nipendo enables the person who receives the materials to update actual weight received using a mobile app, and to include a photo of the weighing certificate. The mobile app is an integral part of the Nipendo platform, an end-to-end solution through which 95% of invoice processing is performed automatically, error-free, all the way through to the buyer’s ERP system.
Chemical manufacturers are required to perform intensive maintenance of their production line given their high levels of wear and tear. The challenge is to properly and effectively validate invoices for such services – beginning with documenting them in the system, followed by approval and so on. This manual process is triggered by the supplier’s invoice, and results in the creation of a service entry sheet in the ERP system.
Another challenge faced by the industry lies in the manual way by which invoices are processed for maintenance services of the production line. In many places the process of documenting the service, approving it, and finally paying for it is slow and error prone.
With Nipendo, the invoice is sent electronically by the supplier and is automatically placed on hold. Information about the transaction is then sent to the ERP system, which creates a draft Service Entry Sheet (SES) for an inspector to approve, reject, or modify. Once approved, the SES is transmitted to the ERP system where it undergoes three-way matching before releasing the invoice for payment. Automation significantly reduces processing time, frees up resources and removes errors.
Using the Nipendo platform, buyers and suppliers in the chemical industry ensure data accuracy and an efficient supply chain that impacts the timely delivery of goods and the accurate and timely payment for them.
Accelerating the speed of business with real-time visibility and compliance
P2P Automation across all spend categories
“By providing real-time visibility to receivable worthiness and partnering with non-bank capital resources, Nipendo is expanding the range of available trade financing options at a time of great need.”
“Nipendo enables interoperability between different supplier communication solutions (for example, electronic data interchange [EDI], supplier networks and e-invoicing), allowing enterprises to rapidly achieve over 90% straight-through processing of all supplier invoices directly to their existing ERP systems.”
“Nipendo is the real deal when it comes supporting both application capability in P2P, such as e-invoicing and the connectivity or network layer itself.”
“Admittedly, we were initially reluctant to deploy Nipendo, fearing it would add to our work and possibly require the hiring of additional staff. We would likely not have done so had our customer not required us. However, after deploying the platform using a B2B connection, we realized significant benefit from it and now urge our customer to expand the platform’s utilization. We find ourselves spending far less time around invoice submission and, since we have full transparency into the process and into invoice and payment status, we no longer need to call the customer directly. Our business processes have improved significantly, and we’re better able to plan ahead.”
Chief Information Officer
“Before moving to Nipendo’s digital platform, we had to manually process hundreds of thousands of physical documents… we were sometimes late paying our suppliers… Nowadays the Electric Company receives the vast majority of invoices through Nipendo’s digital platform, which automatically examines them and provides intelligent validations… Once we started using Nipendo our work processes shortened and became more efficient. The number of people required to handle invoices was reduced and the company’s ability to comply with payment obligations to suppliers improved significantly. We’ve gotten rid of almost all of our large filing cabinets, freeing up a lot of office real estate, have done away with the exhausting filing activities and have almost completely eliminated the need to manually key-in data.”
Head of Accounting Division
“The Nipendo platform has enabled IAI to significantly improve supply chain efficiencies and supplier relations by creating transparency, and by automating the bulk of documentation along with the proper validations. This has freed up our team to address more value-add challenges, has eliminated data errors, and has enabled us to meet our SLA vis-à-vis suppliers and customers. Beyond the technology’s ability to address complex matters, the Nipendo team has demonstrated drive, flexibility, and creativity. All of this has encouraged us to move into new areas with Nipendo and to strive towards making it a one-stop-shop for IAI and its global suppliers.”
Deputy COO and VP Supply Chain
Win-win proposition for buyers and suppliers
